About 25 people gathered at Clifton Hill House, Clifton, on 5th October 2015 to celebrate the legacy of one of Victorian Britain’s greatest scholar-writers, John Addington Symonds.

Born in Bristol in 1840, Symonds was the author of numerous works including The Renaissance in Italy, in seven volumes, and the first major study of ancient sexuality A Problem in Greek Ethics, published in just ten copies in 1883. These writings were a profound contribution to the early homosexual rights movement.

Clifton Hill House was Symonds’ home for many years so it was fitting that the event was held in a room that would have been very familiar to him. The house is now a hall of residence for the University of Bristol.